The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019
by Bobby Wolff on
April 17th, 2019
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.
Martin Luther King Jr.
| N | North |
|---|---|
| Both | ♠ K Q 5 ♥ 6 5 ♦ A 8 6 3 2 ♣ K 8 7 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ — ♥ K J 10 9 8 3 ♦ Q J 10 ♣ J 9 5 2 |
♠ 10 8 7 6 2 ♥ 7 ♦ 9 7 5 4 ♣ 10 6 3 |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A J 9 4 3 ♥ A Q 4 2 ♦ K ♣ A Q 4 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♦ | Pass | ||
| 1 ♠ | 2 ♥ | Dbl. | * |
| Pass | 4 NT | Pass | 5 ♠ |
| Pass | 6 ♠ | All pass |
*Three-card spade support
♦Q
It is hard to know what constitutes a life mission, but as far as I am concerned, if I can prevent players from overcalling two diamonds with these cards, I’ll have accomplished something. Doubling one heart is fine, or bidding one diamond over one club on a different day. But two-level overcalls promise good suits and normally six cards.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K Q 5 ♥ 6 5 ♦ A 8 6 3 2 ♣ K 8 7 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ♥ | |||
| ? |
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Bridge-related
When West led the diamond queen against six spades, declarer paused to form a plan, even though his play to the first trick was nearly automatic. He could count to 11 tricks if trumps divided, so he needed a 12th.
One possibility was to try to set up a long diamond in dummy, but that would almost certainly require both trumps and diamonds to behave. Declarer decided that a better shot was to ruff a heart high in dummy and finesse the trump nine after having done so. (This line does offer a better chance of making the contract than trying to set up diamonds.)
So at trick two, declarer led a low trump; but when West discarded a heart, declarer had to reconsider his options. Winning the trick with dummy’s trump queen, declarer then played a heart to the ace and cashed three rounds of clubs. After discarding a heart on the diamond ace, declarer ruffed a diamond low, then exited with a heart. West won the trick with the heart eight and exited with a low heart. As planned, declarer ruffed this with dummy’s trump king.
In the three-card ending, declarer had the trump ace-jacknine remaining, and any lead from dummy would ensure he could score all of the remaining tricks. Declarer made five trumps, the heart ace, a heart ruff, two diamonds and three clubs, for a total of 12 tricks.
It was critical here to cash the clubs and take the diamond ruff before East could discard from the minors on the hearts.